They are at it again.

Headlines in the media are all agog at a small experiment in Israel. A study of weight loss using three types of diet, among three groups of less than 100 people, resulted in weight loss of 5 lb a year for two years. There was constant health education and dietary advice given by the researchers, a condition that will not occur among the public at large. This might have been a useful practical study for a master's course, but not something worth reporting in the New England Journal of Medicine, and the subsequent media 'feeding' frenzy. Do not be taken in by the stories about this poorly designed experiment. Fewer calories and more exercise are the key to loosing weight. There is no substitute.